미국에서의 증권업과 자산운용업의 겸영

This Article examines the business structure of brokerage and asset management in the United States to get helpful insights for Korean law and practice. In order to strengthen the competitiveness of the Korean capital markets, the Ministry of Finance and Economy (“MOFE”) announced in June 2006 a new bill to integrate various regulations related to the capital markets. The bill, which is called “Capital Market Integration Act,” forecasts a birth of multi-service securities firms providing a wide variety of financial services. A multi-service securities firm may combine the function of brokerage with asset management services. Combined brokerage and asset management, however, raises obvious conflicts-of-interest problems, such as churning, dumping, negotiated commissions, etc. Federal securities laws have several provisions regulating the combination of brokerage and asset management, and information barriers known as “Chinese Walls” are established in order to avoid these conflicts-of-interest problems. Establishing self-regulatory organizations for the fund industries is also needed in the United States to deal effectively with conflict-of-interest problems and related abuses.